Chapter 35: Prime Suspect #1
The Justice League adjusts to the return of Batman while also trying to get some "other" questions answered.
"I don't understand." Diana said, a look of utter confusion clearly plastered across her features.
"Welcome to the club." Came an angry, yet oddly familiar baritone voice.
It was definitely Bruce's voice, but it still just wasn't right. "How do you..."
"Voice modification device inserted into the base of the cowl." Batman explained. "It registers the fundamental frequency created by my vocal chords, and then calculates and makes the necessary adjustment so that I sound just like the old man."
"Additional technology like that at least explains some of the added bulk I noticed as well about the new suit." Superman said.
"Why is he doing this?" Diana asked, her frustration with the man clearly visible and growing at a steady rate. "Why is he acting this way? Does no one else see how much he's changed?"
"Perhaps this is something best shared in more of a private setting." Superman suggested as he gestured to the open doorway leading into his own personal quarters.
Batman stalked into the room, obviously in agreement with Superman's perspective concerning the situation. Diana meanwhile, was still fuming despite the fact that she remained quiet. He might sound and walk like Batman, but he still wasn't. Only Bruce could be Batman in her eyes, and everyone else would only be a cheap imitation.
Superman was the last to enter his personal quarters, and locked the door behind him before going over to a wall mounted personal terminal. He typed in a few commands and then began to speak. "Computer. Secure room P1, Level 3, and shutdown all monitoring devices under order 1-V-K-5-3-7-E-2-1-N-8-6-9-T Gamma."
"Command confirmed." The automated voice announced followed by the humming of the recording devices winding down and the doors locking.
With the room locked down, Superman then turned to face his guests. "What the hell is Bruce trying to pull here Dick?"
Diana glanced over at the Man of Steel in utter surprise. She'd rarely, if ever heard him curse before, and now she could see that she wasn't the only person frustrated by Bruce's decision to provide a Batman fill in.
"Not that I haven't enjoyed this warm welcome." Dick responded, full of sarcasm and attitude. "But I'm not exactly thrilled to be here either. Taking over Bruce's mantle was not what I'd planned on doing. Ever."
"But obviously you agreed to it." Diana fired back as she was still quite frustrated and struggling to keep it under wraps.
"He didn't exactly leave me with much of a choice." Dick replied as he glared at her, but all that did was add another item to the list of things that Bruce exceled at over others in the cowl. "When Gotham's crime increases, it inevitably starts to trickle into the Haven. And Tim's not old enough yet to patrol on his own. Besides, Bruce won't let him. He's made up his mind. So if the Justice League wants the Bat, then for now I'm the guy."
"That's not good enough!" Diana heatedly exclaimed as she began to pace back and forth. "When we left him, Bruce gave every indication that he was returning. Not that he was going to put another band aid on to try and fix an ongoing problem."
"Diana's right." Superman said. "We both immediately realized that you weren't him. It might not be today, but its only a matter of time before Gotham's criminals figure out that you're not the original Batman."
"And then it will be right back to open season." Dick said as he released a frustrated sigh and removed the cowl. "You're not saying anything that I hadn't already concluded on my own, but what can we do about it? Bruce isn't the same man I knew growing up. Hell, there are times now when I don't even recognize him anymore. I almost miss the coldhearted bastard that he could be at times before."
"According to Alfred, he began acting odd when he returned after discovering where I'd been staying during my pregnancy." Diana offered, trying to pool all information together with the two heroes who knew Bruce best. "From my understanding, that's also about the time he began dating Hannah as well."
"She's right." Dick agreed. "And it's too big a coincidence to not thoroughly investigate. That by itself is already more than enough to make Hannah a primary suspect."
"Anyone who's able to convince Bruce to give up being Batman would have to have quite an influence on him." Superman said. "We're going to need concrete evidence to back this up before we make any attempts at convincing Bruce that something's happened to him."
"We've got to start from the very beginning then." Dick said. "From prior to the point of when someone noticed him acting differently."
"Alfred would be the first to have noticed any changes." Diana pointed out.
"That's true." Dick agreed. "We could also look into Bruce's file reports. He's always been obsessively detailed over everything that he's done under the cape and cowl, and even some things when he wasn't."
"Can we access those files here?" Diana asked. "Bruce may not be acting as Batman right now, but going into his home to dig for incriminating evidence would be incredibly risky, and would certainly throw up a red flag should he find out about it."
"No we can't access them from the Watchtower, but you're right about the risk." Dick responded. "Besides, if Hanna is actually behind this, then it's a safe bet that she'll be aware of it too. That's one of the biggest changes I've noticed about Bruce. He tells her pretty much everything, and that's something he's never done before with anyone really."
"Then we'll have to be sure he doesn't find out." Superman said, trying to sound more confident than he actually felt at that given moment. Trying to sneak around Bruce had always been one of the most difficult things for anyone to do. With his sharp, deductive mind, he always seemed to be two steps ahead of everyone else. Even though no one mentioned it, they all knew that this would be one of the most arduous tasks any of them had to accomplish.
Normally, such a decision would be taken into consideration first. Taking in the pro's and the con's, and then weighing out the potential gains versus the possible ramifications before moving forward. However in this instance there was nothing to weigh out. Clark and Diana had all but completely lost Bruce, and while Dick had being a member of the family to help tie him to Bruce, it wasn't really his Bruce at all. He'd changed so much that Dick felt like he was more of a stranger at times than someone who'd helped raise him.
But in the end, they all knew there was no other choice. They had to take the risk for there to be any chance of saving Bruce. Even if it meant saving him from himself in this instance. They all believed he'd been somehow blinded as to what had happened to him, and it was hidden under the guise of his happiness. That happiness, under normal circumstances would surely have thrown out a red flag for someone like Bruce, but he seemed to be completely oblivious to his past experiences with that emotion, or lack thereof rather.
In the past for him, it had almost seemed as if any sense of happiness was expected to be accompanied with a sense of dread. It was always a matter of when the other shoe would drop, not if for Bruce. He had so many past experiences to compare this with, but as Alfred had previously confided to Dick, Bruce had never really seemed to question his happy state of mind when it came to Hanna. Instead he seemed hell bent on maintaining that happiness.
The only thing which seemed to change his line of thought was when Diana arrived and introduced Alessandra to him. That was the one and only time where Alfred had said that Bruce showed any flicker of doubt around his current relationship since it began. That moment was what drove him to seek out Diana, and attempt to convince her to save Bruce. It was why he'd asked Diana to speak with him. He'd hoped that she would be able to get him to see that something wasn't right.
Based on that knowledge, Diana rightfully assumed that they would be able to attain Alfred's assistance in discovering the truth, and so the three of them started to lay out their plans for how to go about infiltrating the Batcave without Bruce's discovery. Once inside, they planned to pull all the logs from the time where Diana was forced into exile up to the point that Bruce had hung up his cape and cowl.
Once that information was secured, they would comb through it all in search of any potential clues; all hoping that some form of lead would present itself, and give them something to investigate.
They spent a few hours working out any potential plans, but sadly concluded that breaking into the cave was their only true avenue. Bruce may have opened up to Hannah, but he certainly hadn't for anyone else. Except perhaps for Alessa, but she was still only a baby. She was also innocent and as such shouldn't serve any part of this. Diana might have been willing to risk what little relationship she still had with Bruce, but she wasn't willing to risk Alessa's.
The three conspirators also agreed that aside from Alfred, no one else was to know about what they were going to do. They couldn't risk anyone having loose lips, for fear that it might still somehow get back to Bruce. He might have passed on his mantle to Dick, but his mind was still as sharp as ever.
Next they worked out the details of how they would be able to gather the data they needed. At first, they attempted to formulate a means of distracting Bruce, but such thoughts were quickly discarded. After all, Clark wasn't the best of liars, and Diana was even worse than he was.
They all knew that if either of the most power heroes attempted to deceive Bruce in any way, it was a virtual certainty that he would figure it out. Dick, while much better at deception, still knew better than to try anything either. While he was family, their relationship still was far from the best of terms, and he wouldn't be able to come up with an excuse to pull Bruce away that wouldn't first raise Bruce's suspicion.
Instead, they all decided to it would be best to allow nature to take its course, and provide them with a suitable distraction for them to take advantage of. That was where Alfred would have a significant role to play. He was more aware of Bruce's public schedule than anyone else in the world. He knew it even better than Bruce himself, and so any input he could provide could be considered as gospel.
It had been three grueling weeks of waiting before an event forced Bruce to be away from his home for any extended period of time that would be long enough to appease their comfort levels to the point where they were willing to break in. This particular event was perfect in that it had him leaving the country for a couple of days in order to wrap up a business venture in India.
Even still, there was an apprehension which had built within two of Earth's strongest heroes as they floated just inside the cave's exit tunnel for the Batwing. They knew that Bruce had already departed from the airport earlier that morning. News pundits had been sure to capture that detail for them, but there was still an uneasiness coursing through their veins. Even though technically retired, Bruce couldn't just shut off his deductive mind. Should they leave any iota out of place in his home, no one would be more likely to notice than he.
They both wondered if they'd given Alfred enough time to disable all potential security measures which would create a record of their presence once they did officially enter the cave. He'd certainly seemed sure of his ability to cover any tracks they might make when they asked for his participation. And really, when thinking about it, they should've held the same confidence in him as well. He had after all been an integral part of the cave's designs and all the features within it. Based on that alone, surely if anyone knew the many intricate protocols and recording devices within Bruce's lair, who would know better than Alfred.
So, while still somewhat hesitant, both heroes eventually worked up the courage necessary, and floated through the tunnel until it opened up into the main hub of the Batcave. At that point, each of them was able to let go of the held breaths they'd been holding once they saw Alfred and Dick up next to the Cray supercomputer obviously waiting on them.
"Alfred's got a continuous loop running over the security camera feed to keep the tapes actively recording." Dick explained after the two League members touched down next to them. "We're using sound dampeners to drown out our conversation too."
"But we must maintain normal level voices, and refrain from higher altitudes within the cave." Alfred elaborated as he pointed upward. "All audio catches the periodic calls of our fellow cave dwelling wildlife, and so their noises must still be captured."
"Alright. So no yelling." Superman said in understanding. "Seems easy enough. So where do we start?"
"Obviously we can't just create duplicate files or send out the originals." Dick replied. We have to go a different route and record all of his files manually. That's why we had to wait until Bruce would be gone for a few days for sure. Even with your typing speed Supes, it's going to take some time to get everything down."
"We also have to re-record the cowl video recordings." Alfred added as he pulled out a camcorder. "We can record those from the secondary monitor to the left while Master Kent begins recording file reports using an independent laptop.
"I'll help with the videos." Diana offered as she moved over to the secondary monitors with Alfred, and grabbed a tripod that he'd obviously set out to use along the way.
All four of them got right to work, copying Bruce's reports and re-recording the video his cowl had captured. As the hours passed by, Diana couldn't help but to drift off at times, getting lost in the videos as she reviewed how meticulously and unwaveringly Bruce had sought her out. Some things grabbed at her more than others, and especially at first. For instance, she'd never envisioned just how difficult it would be to see things from Bruce's perspective when he tracked her down as she visited Thomas and Martha's gravesites.
She couldn't help but to be mesmerized as she watched the video feed of her pulling him into a tear inducing kiss, and then when she told him how she loved him before fleeing from the Batmobile to begin her exile. She taken aback once she realized just how long he continued to stare into the sky as she flew away from him. She almost couldn't believe that he never looked away. At least not until well after she'd disappeared from view.
Diana had never wanted audio to be adjoined to a video than she had upon seeing Bruce staring after her retreating form. Even so, she still could almost feel what had to be his heart crumbling, and hers crumbled along with it. There was little surprise from that point about his conviction in trying to find her from that point.
From that point, some video recordings of him patrolling were interwoven between his efforts of tracking her down. Apparently he left the cowl on in the cave more than she'd realized while he was seated in front of his supercomputers.
She also discovered just how many near misses he'd had as he tried to catch up to her. Some of which she'd realized when it actually occurred, but she found there were many others that she hadn't been aware of just how close he'd actually come to catching her. Even though she already had a great admiration for his deductive skills, seeing just how close he'd come on multiple occasions to track her down only enhanced her admiration of his abilities.
The video that garnered most of her attention however was when he'd traveled to Themyscira. She knew that he had trespassed, but she hadn't known the actual extent of what he went through to get his answers while also keeping his head attached. She was absolute awestruck by the fact that he'd managed to sneak into her mother's personal chambers without detection, and had even managed to have somewhat of a conversation with her mother until for some reason he'd apparently chosen to remove his cowl.
The recording didn't start back up again until after he'd exited her mother's chambers, and she watched as Bruce attempted to evade the Themysciran army for quite some time. She had to sit through helplessly as Bruce occasionally was struck by an arrow here and there. There were even some random strikes with a spear that managed to stick into his armor, and she was thankful to see that his armor did well in holding up against most of the projectiles. Still there were a few arrows with a bloodstained tip he'd revealed upon removing them from his own flesh.
Even more impressive to her was when he managed to subdue the fiery redhead, Artemis. She almost felt sorry for him when she noticed the different fighting style Artemis used against him. He'd surely would know that the different fighting technique had to have come from his own teachings; as Diana passed it along to her sisters, but at least he'd been able to get away without taking too much damage.
It wasn't until Bruce managed to reach the Batwing's cockpit that Diana finally saw something which stuck out to her. She reached forward, paused the video and stared intently at the stilled image.
"Is there something wrong, Miss Diana?" Alfred asked as he watched her stare with an intensity he'd not expected.
"Yes." She eventually said as she pointed to the screen. "When Bruce was struck by this last arrow. He glanced briefly at who fired it."
"Not entirely surprising for him to glance at who attacked him, I'd say Miss." Alfred commented. "he was surely calculating the potential risk, but what seems so pertinent about this particular instance? He'd already been struck by many projectiles while trying to get back to the Batwing safely."
"The problem with this instance is that I don't recognize her." Diana explained. "That's not an armor of one of my sisters."
"Are you sure?" Dick asked as he came over to see what it was that Diana had pointed out from the video footage.
"Definitely." Diana confirmed. "It may be similar to Amazonian armor, but there are some obvious differences in the helmet and breastplate. More specifically, there are some intricacies in the design which seems more artistic than functional. None of my sisters would go to such lengths in decorating their armor, and moreover, there doesn't appear to be a mark on it either. It's as though this armor was brand new."
"Well, if she's not an Amazon, then who is she?" Dick asked as he took over the controls and started enhancing the image on the character Diana was referencing. "And how could she infiltrate your sister's ranks if she's an impostor?"
"That's what doesn't make sense." Diana replied. "Philippus or Artermis surely would have discovered an impostor in their ranks, and if not them, then my mother would definitely have discovered this person. There is no way an intruder could infiltrate our ranks."
"Why don't we run a facial recognition profile?" Superman suggested as he continued typing furiously. "Maybe if this person isn't an Amazon, she'll be in Bruce's database."
"I can try, but the helmet she's wearing definitely shields a lot of her face." Dick explained. "There's no way we'll have a 100 percent match because of it."
"Anything is better than what we have right now." Diana said with a not so hidden undercurrent in her voice. She was equally interested in just who this impostor was in her homeland. She wanted answers to take to her mother as well as information on why this person would be after Bruce.
Dick worked diligently on cleaning up the image from Batman's cowl as Diana watched, virtually hovering over his shoulder. Typically, he never liked it when people did that to him, and in truth this time was no different. But this was Wonder Woman he was dealing with, and she seemed to have hardened in her posture with the knowledge that someone had infiltrated her homeland undetected. he briefly read her body language, and decided that it was most beneficial for his own health to swallow any aggravation she was causing him, and just continue to work.
Superman sighed loudly as he saved the last file and closed the laptop. "Every report's been copied over." He announced as he stood to his feet. "And in just over thirteen hours."
Alfred happened a glance to his watch from behind Dick and Diana, a look of astonishment easily viewable on his features. "Dare I say Master Kent, but you may well challenge the Flash on speed typing ability."
"Well...it is what I do for a living." Superman commented as he joined the group and finally looked at the image Dick was still enhancing and cleaning up. But everything came to a screeching halt when they heard him suck in a quick blast of air in a gasp, followed by his next words. "It can't be..."
"Can't be what?" Dick asked as he turned to face Superman before seeing his face transfixed upon the image. Then Dick looked back at the monitor again, and he joined in Superman's astonishment. "I think it is."
"Run facial recognition to be certain Master Dick." Alfred requested. "Limit the search parameter to current Gotham City residents."
With swift key strokes, the search criteria was input, and a mere thirty seconds later, they had the results they'd expected, but still could hardly believe. "How high would the percentage have to be before Bruce would accept this as proof?" Diana grounded out through angry, clenched teeth.
"Seventy-eight percent should be more than enough to at least question it." Dick responded. "Especially with part of her face being covered by her helmet. If not for that, I'd bet we'd have a percentage in the high nineties."
"But say it is her." Superman proposed. "Why would she try to stop him from escaping Themyscira? She could've killed him. It looks like she just barely missed a major artery."
"I need a print out of that image Dick." Diana demanded more than requested from him.
Dick acquiesced, but not without providing his thoughts along the way. "What are you thinking about doing with it?"
"I'm going to get answers." Diana grounded out as though she believed the answer should've been obvious.
"Di, are you sure that is such a good idea?" Superman said as he floated over to block the path to the Batwing tunnel if needed.
"What do you mean?" She asked, her frustration beginning to boil. "Even with a helmet blocking a portion of her face, we have nearly an eighty percent match according to Bruce's own software. He needs to know that he's potentially marrying an wolf in sheep's clothing."
"Are you certain there might be another factor driving such a hasty decision to act, Miss Diana?" Alfred asked.
Diana turned her head to look Bruce's surrogate father in the eyes, and saw that he appeared to not agree with her urgency to confront Bruce and Hannah with this damning evidence. She almost couldn't believe her eyes. "Weren't you the one who asked me to confront Bruce about how he had changed?" She accusingly questioned in more of a rhetorical sense. "I have evidence now that he cannot just toss aside as circumstantial, and now you're going to tell me that I shouldn't confront him?"
"It's not that I don't want you to confront him with this, Miss Diana." Alfred said as he internally sought out just how to explain.
"Then what is it?" Diana heatedly asked.
"It's what could be at stake." Superman chimed in.
"Thank you Master Kent." Alfred responded in appreciation.
Diana's eyes flipped back and forth between her best friend and Alfred. She didn't know exactly what they were getting at, but they both were apparently on the same page. That caused her to calm ever so slightly. It served as enough to temporarily halt her desire to track Bruce down, but only just. "Explain." She ordered.
"I wasn't just typing the reports Di." Superman said. "I was reading them too. Bruce was obsessed with finding you. More than obsessed. From what he typed in his reports, finding you seemed like it was all that he could focus on. Other crimes came across more like footnotes compared to the amount of data he input about locating you right up to the point where he finally tracked you down on Tinian Island."
"I still don't understand what this has to do with confronting him now." She said. "Bruce deserves to know the truth."
"And how, may I ask are you planning to attain that truth my dear?" Alfred kindly asked as he placed a comforting hand upon her shoulder.
Diana then glanced down to her hip where the golden lasso was coiled and clipped to her side. Alfred noticed where the Princess' eyes traveled, and instantly knew that his assumption of her intentions had been accurate.
"Your intended actions, while certainly understandable; are also emotionally charged and driven primarily by that emotion." Alfred explained. "Should you go bursting in and wrap Hanna with the Lasso of Truth, or do anything similar to this fashion; your intentions could ultimately backfire on you. If that happened, Master Bruce would not listen to any plea from you, and would most likely begin to consider you an enemy."
Diana hadn't given much thought to her approach. All she'd wanted to do was reveal to Bruce that he'd been deceived by his fiancé for some yet to be known reason. Then she would've traveled to Themyscira to inform her mother of yet another intruder on the island. Now though, she could see that Kal and Dick were visibly in agreement with Alfred, and she began to waver in her conviction to run straight to him with their evidence.
"Alfred's right Di." Superman said as she began to accept that as the case. "We've been too cautious up to this point to just go jumping into this without a plan of attack. We can't just fly off now that we have some actual proof."
"I suppose that does make sense." She conceded as she searched Alfred's eyes for the answer, but she knew instantly that her emotions were still driving her line of thinking. "What should we do then?"
"We need to treat this just like any other battle." Dick jumped in. "We have to have a strategy that gives us the tactical advantage when we confront him."
"It would probably be best if we approached Bruce when he's away from Hanna." Superman suggested. "With it looking like she's the one behind this, if she's there, she'll most likely deny it immediately."
"Agreed." Dick said. "Bruce will still be pissed that we did this, but he'll at least appreciate and be receptive to the fact that we came to him first instead of just going after her."
"It's not just that." Diana commented as she recalled something she'd noticed before. "On the occasions I've been able to be around Bruce, I've noticed some differences in the way he acts when Hannah is around compared to when she's not."
"How so?" Superman asked, hoping for yet any advantage to potentially exploit in getting his friend back.
"Of the few moments where I've alone with him, I've noticed him struggling with who he's changing into." Diana answered. "The moments are always fleeting, but they're definitely there. However, those moments are completely nonexistent whenever Hannah is anywhere near him. It's almost like her proximity holds some sort of power over him."
"What kind of moments?" Dick questioned.
"There was one time where he admitted to having doubts about giving up his mantle." Diana offered, and then paused as she briefly considered the merits of providing another specific instance. She wanted to help free him from whatever hold he was under though, and so knew that she had to share what she knew with them. "There are other instances where he...he..."
"He's shown that he is still in love with you." Alfred finished for her.
Superman's and Dick's eyes widened in surprise upon Alfred's suggestion, but they damn near bulged from their eye sockets when Diana nodded in confirmation. They both knew that Bruce had feelings for Diana, but love? it wasn't that they could blame him. She was Wonder Woman after all, but it was still Batman at the end of the day they were talking about. Batman was supposed to be cold, detached, aloof. Not a person who fell in love.
Hannah was an artificial feeling; they were sure of it, and that made it easier to accept. Bruce had been somehow manipulated into loving her, and when they saved him, his cold demeanor would most likely return in spades. But if he was in love with Diana, that had to mean it had happened before whatever power Hannah had over him, a spell or some kind of mind control in which she used to slither her way into his arms.
They were both dumbstruck, and as such, incapable of formulating words to leave their open mouths. So it seemed that it would be up to Diana and Alfred to finish brainstorming. "How do you think it would be best to approach him, Alfred?" Diana asked.
A/N: A little shorter than some of my more recent chapters this time around, but I think it was a good stopping point. So, will Bruce let Diana use the Lasso of Truth on Hannah when she presents him with their gathered evidence? Will he just toss it all aside? What do you think will happen?
Thank you to theBOB125, Zellness, DDLo18, Ni Castle, LifeisCRUEL, CrazyPhenom, LOTSlover, and Ugh for the reviews. I know I've been sporadic, but things have been absolutely crazy at work and my free time EXTREMELY limited. I've had to slip in tidbits here and there during my lunch hour just to keep things moving here.
CrazyP and Ugh, congratulations as you were both right. Hannah's got her claws dug in deep, and wouldn't let Bruce continue on his own.
I've sadly noticed a real downturn in the amount of BMWW story updates out there these past few weeks, so I'd like to shout out for us all to rally together, and really try to support/encourage one another to keep this movement going strong. We are all that we have until the DC brass decide to use their brains for something other than a gap filler between their ears. Let's keep Wonderbat going strong!
I plan on doing my part in the next update. Just you wait until I get this next meeting with Bruce and Diana down in pen. It will be filled with emotion for sure.